TV Reviews - Doctor Who 908: The Zygon Inversion

Epic Fallout 4 Launch Trailer

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 907: The Zygon Invasion

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 905 and 906: The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived

A Little Something Awesome - The Star Wars VII Trailer!

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 904: Before the Flood

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 903: Under the Lake

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 902: The Witch's Familiar

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 901: The Magician's Apprentice

Movie Reviews - The Last Airbender

So, there is a rumor going around that some moron somewhere is allowing M. Night Shyamalan to make The Last Airbender 2. My move is finished, and I can take time to update my sites again, so I figured that in honor of this awful, awful possibility, I would review the first "film", a movie which gouged an eye out of one of my favorite franchises of all time.

Movie Reviews - Fantastic Four (2015)

Uuuggghhhhh.

Movie Reviews - Terminator Genisys

I saw the first Terminator movie when I was probably too young to see it, but I enjoyed it. I saw the second movie not long after, and I loved it. It was just a spectacular movie, with great effects and action, and a really fun dynamic between the three leads. I've followed the franchise (the movie side of it at least) since. I liked Terminator 3, and I enjoyed things about Terminator: Salvation, but I always considered the second film to be the definitive installment, encompassing everything that made the franchise fun to begin with. This movie wasn't better, but I really feel like it gave the second movie a run for its money.

Warning: Reviewing this movie does sort of demand a certain number of spoilers, so spoilers ahead.

Movie Reviews - Inside Out

When I first saw trailers for this movie, I was genuinely worried. It reminded me of a movie from several years ago, Osmosis Jones, which was about a white blood cell cop who does impossible things to save the human that he lives in, with the help of a cold pill, which, in the movie, is like a kind of Robocop-esque guy. It is an interesting enough movie, and kind of fun, but these characters do things which are biologically impossible, because white blood cells and cold pills aren't sentient. They don't have their own free will, or a desire to do better and try harder. I was worried that this movie would be the Osmosis Jones of psychology. I know enough psychology to know that our individual emotions don't have their own agency beyond the fact that we sometimes can't help feeling them. Our emotions are dependent on our experiences, and they work for us whether we always realize it or not. Thankfully the movie sticks to this truth, and does it very well while telling a very good story about the human condition.

A Little Something Awesome - Star Wars Episode I - III: The Phantom Edit

Love them or hate them, the three Star Wars prequel movies are widely considered not to hold a candle to the original three movies. They are filled with superfluous scenes and extraneous dialogue that adds little to the overall plot, and the first of the three, Episode I: The Phantom Menace can be summed up with "Young boy found on desert planet. He might be the chosen one. Baddies want to kill him probably". Seeing this, Andrew Kwan decided to use his editing talents to condense the movies down into one two-hour film that flows a lot better than the originals did. It is more focused, drawing attention to the plot points that really matter, and while the George Lucas' dialogue and direction is still clunky, the improvement is obvious, at least to me. Either way, this little non-profit fan film is a noteworthy achievement. Check it out below, maybe shoot a like or sub in Mr. Kwan's direction, and come back later for another Something Awesome.

Movie Reviews - Jurassic World

I saw this movie a week ago, and I have been trying to decide how to go about reviewing it since then. Not because it is something special, or something profound, but because it really is a big nostalgia trip, with many similarities to the original movie. This isn't to say that I didn't like it, because I did. I just don't know how to talk about this movie without comparing it to Jurassic Park. So that's just what I'm going to do.

Movie Review - Tomorrowland

Welcome to the world of tomorrow! I'm going to be entirely honest, when I saw the trailers for Tomorrowland, from Disney, it felt someone was teasing a new theme park attraction. I still stand by that. The trailer did one thing well, though, and it took the Roland Emmerich approach and told us very little about the movie itself. Minimalism builds intrigue, and I certainly was intrigued, enough that I looked forward to seeing the movie. I didn't, however, let my expectations get too high. On one hand, I'm glad I didn't. On the other hand, I feel like those expectations could have been inflated a bit, because this movie was actually quite good.

A Brief Countdown to Tomorrow(land)

I haven't done a big post here since AoU, but I have good news: I plan to see Tomorrowland (fittingly) tomorrow night! I'm really looking forward to it. Just FYI.

A Little Something Awesome - Teens React to Duck Hunt

This video is delightful and nostalgic, and I love it. Find out what modern teens think of a retro classic. Did you react like any of these kids when you first tried this game? Have you ever even played it at all? Check it out, let me know, and come back later for another Something Awesome.

A Little Something Awesome - The Supergirl TV Series Trailer

So far I'm loving the idea of this show. It looks like the show is taking the Buffy approach and using the idea of a superhero discovering her powers to analogously explore the idea of a person discovering who she is/her place in life. The writing in this trailer made me feel excited and even a little inspired. I just hope the show itself lives up to it, because I'm really looking forward to it now. Check it out for yourself below, and come back later for another Something Awesome.

Movie Reviews - Avengers: Age of Ultron (SPOILERS)

Nothing, nothing, will ever recapture what made Avengers so great. It wasn't Citizen Cain or anything, but before Avengers, no one anywhere believed 100% that a crossover story like this could be done, that stars from multiple series of films could come together as supporting players in a new story and work so well together. Afterward, no one anywhere believed anymore that they couldn't. It was a groundbreaking, triumphant study of the strength of human perseverance, driven by great writing that made the villain as likeable as the heroes. Avengers: Age of Ultron was a little different.

A Little Something Awesome - Two Sentence Scary Stories

As a horror fan, I often seek scary stories on the go, so some of my favorite things are these quick one-to-two-sentence stories that can often be as chilling as fully-realized pros. Number 27 is my favorite. Check them out below, and come back later for another Something Awesome.

http://thoughtcatalog.com/michael-koh/2013/07/40-freaking-creepy-ass-two-sentence-stories/

A Little Something Awesome - Digimon Transitioning to the Theater

I reported a while back that a new Digimon series that was a sequel to both Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, which has since been named Digimon Adventure Tri, was in the works. It would seem that the series has been cancelled, and it is being bumped up to a series of theatrical films. I don't know anything about them yet, about their format or structure, or the stories that they intend to tell, but I feel that film is a great medium to really showcase the epic scope that a story like Digimon has the potential to have, and I can't wait. I just hope that they get theatrical releases in the states. Either way, though, I'm excited, and you should be too, just as much as you should come back for another Something Awesome.

Update

I saw Agengers: Age of Ultron last Thurs. A review of it is incoming, as well as some video shares. I just haven't been in the mood lately.

My Reviewable Toy Collection

I tossed the idea around of doing another video for my collection of reviewable items, but updating a video is time consuming, and my collection grows on a regular basis. So, instead, I have decided to post images complete with a list of the pictured items. Anyone who wants to request something for an Awesome Review on my YouTube channel (found with the other links on this site) can choose any of the listed items, or anything else that they happen to see in the image that I might have left out. Struck out items are ones which I've already reviewed. Don't mind the dust. Cleaning all of these guys up takes loads of time. Also note that I tend to lump Hunt for the Decepticons in with the base movie line, and Reveal the Shield in with Generations.

A Little Something Awesome - Sepia Trek

YouTube content creator SpockBoy, who takes his name from the character made famous by the late, great Leonard Nimoy, has made some great Trek-related stuff before, but this is, so far, my favorite. he has recreated, shot for shot, the scene from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock where the crew steals the enterprise to rescue Spock's body from an off-limits planet. It is made with his own ship models as if it took place during the TV series era rather than the movie era, and has been made in the style of a 1920's silent movie. It would also seem that there are more videos of this type to come, and I can't wait. Check the video out below and then warp away to SpockBoy's YouTube site for more content. Just remember to warp back here later for another Something Awesome.

Movie Reviews - Cinderella (2015)

I have made no secret of the fact that I love fairy tales. I am pessimistic a lot of the time in my real life, so I find it comforting in my writing and entertainment choices to break out of that a little bit. Besides, ya know, magic. I like magic. Normally when I think about my favorite fairy tales, Cinderella isn't the first that come to mind. Usually I think of Beauty and the Beast (Holy Christ on a Bicycle, Emma Watson is playing Belle in the remake, squee!) or Sleeping Beauty (Maleficent is a BAMF), but this movie has me reconsidering that.

My Return To This Blog

It has been a long time since I posted here. Almost a month in fact. I had something in the works, something pretty big that I was pretty excited about. Maybe I'll post it eventually, but I dunno, because the same reason that I never posted it is the same reason why I feel kinda sad every time I think about posting anything here: I was on lunch break at work working on that very post when I found out that Leonard Nimoy had died.

I'll talk more about my feelings on that soon, and I definitely have something in the works again, a review of the new live action Cinderella that will be up Thursday or Friday. However, I wanted to announce that despite the rough feelings that I'm still subconsciously projecting onto this blog, I'm back. And what better day to come back than on April Fools Day, the day when the internet explodes with fun and fantastical pranks in the form of fake news posts, videos, and web articles, like this one:

I have a feeling that today will be fun. Maybe I'll even post a list of my favorite pranks at some point after the day is over. It could be interesting.

A Little Something Awesome - Uptown Funk In Cartoon Voices

You guys know how much I love bringing you guys awesome videos. In keeping with that, I'd like to share a video that I saw today for the first time on the Phillip DeFranco Show. A fantastic young voice actor, Mikey Bolts, performs Uptown Funk in the voices of characters from Family Guy, American Dad, and King of the Hill, and he does so pretty much flawlessly. Even if you aren't a fan of these shows, the video is worth watching just due to the sheer level talent on display. Check it out, and come back soon for a true, full length Something Awesome.

A little Something Awesome - A Brand New Avengers 2 Trailer!

So yeah, I', not going to make any more excuses. Updates will resume soon full force. In the mean time, here is the third trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron!

Anyway, enjoy! And come back later for another Something Awesome.

A Little Something Awesome - BuzzFeed on YouTube

Not everything that BuzzFeedVideos on YouTube does is great. Some of it is actually pretty dumb. But then they go and put out some really fantastic educational gems, going above and beyond their occasional health tips. The latest of these is the following video which shows what Disney Princesses would have looked like in real life, including accurate historical dress and a few bits of trivia:

Even more interesting, though, was another similar video that they released recently chronicling how the "ideal woman" has changed throughout the years, featuring one of the most diverse groups of models ever assembled:

I found both videos to be very interesting, informative, and impressing, and that's enough for me to call them awesome. What do you think?

A Little Something Awesome - Fallon Does Fresh Prince!

There has been a distinct lack of overt awesome lately. You all should know by now that I'll claim "awesome" at the drop of a slightly interesting hat, but seriously I haven't seen any awesome movies lately, or heard any really awesome news, or anything, and after the huge disappointment that was the last play of Sunday's Superbowl, the (kinda only okay) movie TV spots (they weren't even really trailers, guys, how disappoint!) which cropped up amongst the commercials are forever tainted for me, as they aired during that game.

So here I am, thinking that I'll actually have to start keeping my word and posting my own content here just to get an update out, and then I see this pop up on YouTube! Enjoy, and come back (hopefully sooner rather than) later for another Something Awesome.

A Little Something Awesome - Fallout vs. Skyrim

As an apology for doing uh, well, nothing here so far this week (sorry), here is a great video posted to andrewmfilms on YouTube just yesterday which pits the protagonists of two really great Bethesda games, the post-apocalyptic Fallout 3 and the fantastical The Elder Scrolls Five: Skyrim, against each other. It doesn't quite go the way I wanted it to, but it is still an amazing display of talent, and of respect for two iconic video games. Take a look, and come back later for another Something Awesome.

TV Reviews - Doctor Who Christmas Special 2014: Last Christmas

So I’m basically throwing my very recently decided-upon schedule out the window by now, but at least I’m adhering to the spirit of the schedule by updating when I can. So yeah, Last Christmas by Steven Moffet.

Movie Reviews - Into the Woods

It's a little late, but here, finally, is my weekend review!

I mentioned in a recent post that I really enjoy musicals. One of my favorite movies is Mary Poppins. I have a favorite musical, Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I cried heroic manly man tears both of the times that I saw Les Mis in theaters. I don’t get the chance to see musicals on stage nearly as often as I’d like, but I have seen stage productions of Fame and Les Mis and loved them both. I also desperately want to see Wicked. As a fan of musicals, I openly acknowledge that there is a stark difference between a musical made for the silver screen, and musicals adapted to the silver screen from the stage. After the success of Les Mis, I expect to see a resurgence of movie adaptations of stage productions, and while I’m looking forward to this, I accept that this is sometimes going to be a bad idea.

I also love fairy tales. I am a dude, and I am proud that I love fairy tales. On these notes, Into the Woods.

A Little Something Awesome - Musicals

Well, it's that time of year, the time when studios release musicals for Christmas, even though they have nothing to do with Christmas. Which is fine with me. I love musicals. Expect reviews of a few musicals here, soon. However, a bit disappointingly, the two musicals to hit theaters this holiday season, Into The Woods and Annie are getting, uh, mixed reviews. And that's being fair. I haven't seen either yet, but the prospects aren't encouraging. So let's look at something that is encouraging, these videos which I stumbled across online recently of cast members from Grease, one of the most iconic musicals of all time, reuniting and performing together! They can be found a few places online, as well as on, I believe, the 2002 edition of the DVD version of the film. Check them out, check out the movie, and come back later for another Something Awesome.

Follow-Up Awesome - Gotham

So hey, guys, I'm back doing stuff, and just in time for the new TV viewing period! So rather than what I was going to post today, which I totally didn't irresponsibly not write down and then forget what it was or forget to work on it at all (probably), let's talk again about Gotham.